Vacation Days: Use ‘Em or Lose ‘Em

There are officially three months left in 2012, and if you’re like most Americans, you have vacation days that will go unused when December 31 rolls around. If you don’t use them those hard earned days will go to waste. Well, not if we can help it! Take advantage of the cheapest weekends to fly and get away before the year ends.

To help you decide when to fly, we reviewed over a million domestic and international flights to and from the 55 busiest airports in the country. The results? We found the cheapest (and most expensive) long weekends to travel between now and year’s end.Here are some highlights:

Octoberis the best month to get away. Across the country, there are more cheap weekends to fly in October than in November or December.

Columbus Day Weekend, October 5-7th, on average, is the cheapestweekend to get away.

St. Louis (STL)is the cheapest city to get away from on Columbus Day with the lowest fare at just $59!

In Florida? The most expensive place to get away from on Columbus Day weekend is Fort Lauderdale (FLL) with the lowest priceat $513. Instead, fly out of Miami (MIA) with the low price at $199!

New Yorkers: If you’re looking to leave NYC for Columbus Day weekend, fly out ofLaGuardia (LGA), which is about $50 cheaperthan JFK and $130 cheaper than Newark (EWR).

If you’re in NYC but can’t get away for Columbus Day, JFK on average has cheaper fares for the rest of the October.

If you’re going to travel in November, travel the first two weeks of the month, which aresignificantly cheaper than the weekend of the 16th-18th or Thanksgiving weekend.

Don’t wait! The average minimum price can jump by as much as 700 percent from the weekend of the November 9th to the weekend of the 16th in some cities, with Chicago O’Hare (ORD)having the highest jump.

There you have it, all the information you need when deciding which weekend is the best for your vacation days. Book a flight and redeem that vacation!